Pastor Harry’s Thoughts for January

Dear Bath Church Family~

A new year always arrives more quietly than we expect. There’s no trumpet blast. No divine announcement. No heavenly voice declaring, “Now everything will be different.” Instead, January comes the same way most days do—by the alarm clock going off, coffee brewing, and life asking us to keep moving forward. The calendar changes. But the questions often don’t.

The grief some of you carried into December has followed you into January. The prayers you whispered last year that seemed to go unanswered didn’t magically resolve themselves at midnight. The habits you hoped would disappear are still close by. And the weariness many of us feel—spiritual, emotional, even physical—didn’t reset when the ball dropped. And yet Scripture speaks gently into this moment: “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for His mercies never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22–23). Not new every year. Not new every season. New every morning. That tells us something important: God never intended for us to carry yesterday into today. We do it—but He doesn’t ask us to. January has a way of tempting us into thinking we need a dramatic restart. New resolutions. New energy. New confidence. But the Christian life has never been about reinvention. It has always been about renewal. We don’t move forward because we suddenly became stronger—we move forward because God remains faithful. Some of you enter this year with excitement and gratitude. Some of you enter it with grief you can’t quite name. Most of us enter it carrying a mixture of both. And God is not intimidated by any of it. He is not waiting for you to “get it together” before He walks with you. He is not disappointed that you’re still wrestling with the same questions. He does not roll His eyes at your doubts or exhaustion. Scripture reminds us that “a bruised reed He will not break, and a smoldering wick He will not snuff out” (Isaiah 42:3).

That is the God who meets us in January! You don’t have to have this year mapped out. You don’t have to feel spiritually strong. You don’t even have to feel hopeful yet. You only need to take the next faithful step. Psalm 119:105 says, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” Notice the language the psalmist uses here—God lights the step, not the entire road. He gives enough light to move forward, not enough to eliminate trust. And maybe that’s what this season is about. January is not about doing more for God. It’s about trusting Him more deeply. Trusting Him with the parts of last year you don’t understand. Trusting Him with prayers that feel unanswered. Trusting Him with relationships that remain complicated. Trusting Him with the places whereyou still feel unfinished. Trusting Him when life simply doesn’t make sense.The Apostle Paul reminds us, “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion” (Philippians 1:6). God is not done with you. Not with this church. Not with the story He is writing through your life. As we begin this year together, my prayer is not that everything would suddenly become easier—but that we would become more aware of God’s presence in the middle of it. That wewould walk more slowly with Him. Listen more carefully for His voice. And rest more fully in His grace. Not striving to impress Him. Not trying to earn His approval. But remembering—again—that we are already loved, already held, already known.

So let us move forward into this year—not in fear of what lies ahead, but in confidence of Who walks with us. The same God who carried us through last year is already present in this one.

Grace and peace to you as we begin again—one faithful step at a time.

Pastor Harry & Jennifer